New Garden Pictures

We got a new camera this week, and I took a whole bunch of pictures of our back yard! Here they are...

A picture from the side alley














The sweet william!














The back right bed, with hollyhocks, salvia, and marigolds...



















one of our tomato plants - they've just started growing a lot...














the better boy tomato bed














the climbing beans are finally coming up!



















our dreamweaver roses are climbing the trellis














the snapdragons underneath the tree roses














I love these new annuals, but I can't remember their name



















I love these, too...



















don juan climbing rose



















these are pretty, too...



















The tree roses have really started blooming!



















Here is one of the pots beside the grill



















The pots beside the deck stairs.



















The bed in front of the house!














I put in hydrangeas, patriot hostas, azaleas, and impatiens...




























Here's a view of the back yard from our bedroom window...

Garden Updates!

The April rain made a big difference in our yard. Here are some pictures!

I put in some hydrangeas in the front yard.














Here's one of our encore azaleas, which I put on each side of the front steps...



















The climbing roses are doing well.



















...and so are the lilies.














here's the first sweet william blossom!














another of the climbing roses...



















I created these planters to put in front of the grill



















here are the pansies on the deck!














The lettuce is doing well in the rose bed.



















Our curved side beds are doing well.














one of the lettuce plants














the peonies are going to bloom soon



















the daffodils in the front of the house bloomed like crazy

Nighfloat

A couple of weeks ago, James finished his third nightfloat rotation at the hospital. Basically, that means that he works a 30 hour shift on Sunday, and then he works nights from Monday through Friday morning. He sleeps all day Saturday, and then on Sunday morning, he starts it over again. So I thought I'd share some pictures of the call rooms at Barnes, b/c that's where James lived for three months this year...















here's where he keeps his toothbrush, razor, saline, etc.














Sometimes I borrow a mattress and sleep in the call room because when James gets to the end of the nightfloat month, he sometimes sleeps through his pager!



















here's his locker (notice the random Lipitor magnet)



















and here's the bathroom

One more week...

I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on with us lately. For the past three weeks, James has been on a nightfloat rotation at the hospital, which means that he works a 30-hour shift every Sunday (through until Monday morning), and then he works every night from Monday to Friday. He usually has the Saturday off, although he did have to spend one of his Saturdays taking the board exam. In any case, it's exhausting. He has only one more week of it, though, and then he'll be back on regular rotations for the rest of the academic year. This is the third month of nightfloat that he's had to do this year.

I've been pretty busy, too. We have 12 guys trying to graduate in our program next month, so I've been overseeing (and editing) their dissertations. I also had to write the grant report for the Lilly grant that funds the Center for Ministry Leadership, so that took quite a bit of time as well. I'll be happy when it's the end of April, and all of this end-of-the-schoolyear stuff is complete.

Max has kept busy, too. He has an aggressive schedule of naps, snacks, chasing birds, barking at passersby, getting into the trash, and digging in the garden (for which he gets into a lot of trouble.) His favorite time of the day is when his daddy comes home from work, and he loves to jump around and make lots of noise!

Back Yard in Early Spring

We've started working on our back yard, and it needs a TON of work. Here's some of what's going on...

We started digging out curved beds on both sides of the yard.



















Max isn't much of a help, but he keeps you company!














He loves "his" yard.



















We're planning to put a double brick border along all of the beds.














Our first and smallest bed...now it has lettuce and shrub roses in it, but this was before we planted it up.














good soil...


































A new climbing rose along the new fence.














One of our old roses that we brought from the carriage house garden - see all the new sprouts!



















The lilies that we brought are coming back, too!














We put pansies into window boxes along the deck. James wanted purple and yellow b/c those are his fraternity colors!














Our peonies are coming back, too - they're growing fast now.

Rock Climbing

On a cold day a few weeks ago, we went to REI so that James could go rock climbing. He was awesome - his first time up, he decided to climb the expert wall. He got to the top in less than 30 seconds!!! The woman overseeing the rock climbing wall said that they would have to make some of the hand holds "off limits" to make it harder for him!

Hooking up the harness...














Climbing onto the wall...



















halfway up



















almost all the way up



















at the top!!

New Fence

We got a new fence put in on three sides of our yard. The other side already had a wooden fence. We LOVE it!

February Fun

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything to our blog, but we've been busy! Here is a little of what we did this month....

We vacationed at Big Cedar, which is a resort owned by Bass Pro Shops down in Ridgewood, Missouri (just below Branson, on the Arkansas/Missouri border). We rented a boat and went fishing on Table Rock Lake!














James loved driving the boat, but he let me drive it some, too.














We ate at the White River Fish House, which is also owned by Bass Pro Shops














Self-portrait














James by the lake, just beside our cabin.



















We also went to see the orchid show at the botanic garden. This is a picture of the climatron...



















My favorite orchid at the show...














Then we went to the St. Louis Auto Show! This is the SUV that I want to buy...














This is the truck that James wants...














I've also started some plants and seeds in the house to get ready for spring. This is a lovely amaryllis that I grew!